Kannur: 483 Indians are in jails in Kuwait and Oman for various crimes. Half of them are Malayalis. This is the information received by RTI activist Raju Vazhakala from Indian embassies. There are more Indians in Kuwait jails – 428 including 10 women. Five of them were sentenced to death. There are 55 people in the Oman jail, including five women.
Those on unskilled labor visas are more likely to spend time in prisons. Most of it. There are those involved in drug dealing, financial irregularities, violence and murder. Since the state-wise figures are not available, the exact information on the number of Malayalis is not available.
In December 2022 Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muralidharan had informed the Lok Sabha that 8441 people are directly incarcerated in foreign jails including trial proceedings. It was also stated that 4,389 people are from Gulf countries like Saudi, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman. The embassy says that necessary intervention is being done for the release of Indians.
There are ways to deliver in India
According to the Transfer of Sentenced Persons (TSP) agreement signed with the UAE in 2011, prisoners in UAE jails can be transferred on the condition that they serve the rest of their sentences in India. But execution can be done only depending on the interest of the convicted person and the consent of the transferring and receiving countries.
If the External Affairs Department makes an effective intervention, it will be possible to bring back the Malayalis who are in jail in the Gulf countries.
Raju Vazhakala – Right to Information the worker